Blue-sky thinking: Why not split the USA?

[robkelk]

...
Will the liberal areas need the resources the more conservative areas provide to fuel their economies? Sure. But those conservative areas need to sell those same resources just as badly. And the conservative areas have less of a margin.

Which just points out how much of the economy is driven by trade. In that scenario, the more conservative areas would want to be running a trade deficit, because that would mean the money is coming in faster than it's going out.

(Which means it would be just like the world outside our windows.)